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MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:14 am
by Mythicalminer
ALL;

Apologizes for not getting back to this sooner. As far as what's happening with the Smith Petition and the Letter of Support goes, I have received a letter from the EPA thanking me for the Letter of Support... and that they are looking at it (the problem). WHEN? Who knows.

NOT HELPING is the total mess back in Washington DC... how Trump gets anything done is a miracle... and let's face it, our problems are not high on the list of things to do! We need more pressure put on the EPA and Army Corps to ACT!!!

Although it's a little early to announce, we are doing something that just might put the needed pressure on the EPA/Corps. Just last week the Eastern Oregon Mining Association and the Waldo Mining District, along with 4 individuals (i.e.; the appellants that have been in court for 14+ years over NPDES permitting) signed Agreement papers with the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) who will file an appeal on our behalf of the recent Oregon Supreme Court decision with the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of December.

Once our appeal is filed, the agencies will have a choice to either amend the regulations, or risk a SCOTUS decision... and all we have to do is show that suction dredges do not "add pollutants".

As this develops, news will be posted on the Waldo Mining District website at: WWW.WALDOMININGDISTRICT.ORG

(BTW: for those that don't know, in the West, the U.S. EPA (Region 10) requires suction dredge mining be covered under a "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" (NPDES) permit under the Clean Water Act. This is the same permit needed for sewage treatment plants and other onshore industrial discharges into waters. The "addition of a pollutant" has been defined by the U.S. Supreme Court to mean the addition from the outside world into the water... in other words, adding something to the water that wasn't in the water. Suction dredges don't "add" anything!

There's more on the Evils of NPDES on the Waldo website.)

Re: MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:16 pm
by Mythicalminer
A QUICK UPDATE:

Pacific Legal Foundation filed our Petition to the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) which was docketed (officially received) on Jan. 3, 2020. Oregon then waived their right to reply!

On Feb. 3, an Amicus (friend of the court) brief was filed on behalf of mining orgs from 4 different states (including The New 49ers) along with two counties in support of our Petition. Three days later SCOTUS ordered Oregon to respond by March 8! Oregon then requested and received a 30-day extension, their response is now due April 8.

That SCOTUS ordered Oregon to respond is taken to mean that the court is interested in this case... increasing our chances that our case will get heard.

For more information and to read the Petition and the Amicus brief, please visit us at: www.waldominingdistrict.org

Re: MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:07 pm
by Jim_Alaska
Thanks for the update Tom, it really does look promising, more so than ever before, so lets keep our fingers crossed and pray that God will have some positive influence on this court.

Re: MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES

Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 1:46 am
by chickenlip_willie
Jim & Tom, Thank you for the up date !!

Re: MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:47 am
by Mythicalminer
UPDATE ON EOMA v DEQ CASE: (See the above threads for background)

As mentioned, mere days after the amicus brief in support of the miners was filed (2/3), SCOTUS ordered DEQ to Respond by March 8. DEQ then asked for an additional 30 days which was granted and brief was due by April 8. And most recently, DEQ asked for another 30 days due to the CVirus, so brief is now due around May 8th . . . unless of course DEQ can think of more reasons to keep this out of the courts.

I was planning to go to Washington DC at the end of March/early April to attend various meetings with highly placed Trump people in the DOI/BLM, DOA/USFS, and hopefully someone high up in the EPA. Unfortunately, due to personal problems at home followed by the CVivus scare all trips were canceled for the time being. "IF" & "WHEN" travel once again common, and if/when new meetings can be arranged, I still intend to go... someday.

More on EOMA v DEQ, including our Petition to SCOTUS and the Miner's Amicus Brief can be found on the Waldo Mining District website at: WWW.WALDOMININGDISTRICT.ORG

Re: MINERS APPEALING TO U.S. SUPREME COURT OVER NPDES

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:14 pm
by OregonJim
Thank you for the update!

Re: FINAL UPDATE RE: NPDES PERMITTING

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:24 am
by Mythicalminer
Sorry for the delay here... but the U.S. Supreme Court denied to hear our case with no explanation; just like they denied to hear the earlier RINEHART and BOHMKER cases regarding States prohibiting mining. So much for JUST-US!

Information regarding the NPDES case and the BOHMKER case can be found on the Waldo Mining District website at: https://www.waldominingdistrict.org/